One Skillet Spaghetti

Need a quick and easy meal for those hectic weekday nights? This family friendly One Skillet Spaghetti is not only quick and easy, but also cheesy good!

We’ve all been there. The kids are hungry and you are frazzled and then the dreaded question: “Mom, what’s for dinner???” My go-to-recipe when I don’t have much time to think or to prepare a meal is this one: One Skillet Spaghetti. And clean-up is simple, since everything is cooked in, you guessed it, ONE PAN!

I discovered this recipe in my handy dandy Cook’s Country magazine and quickly altered it to my family’s taste buds. I’ve made it with ground beef, ground turkey and Italian sausage. It’s versatile and you can use any size or shape of pasta that you have laying around in your pantry.

You start with browning your onions and preferred meat and seasoning them. Add a couple cans of diced tomatoes. Then comes the neat part, add a cup of water and bring it to boil and add your noodles. If you are using spaghetti noodles, you will want to break them up into two-inch long pieces. I usually break the noodles in half over the pan, and then break them in half again.

Let the noodles soften a little and then add cream, parmesean and mozzerella cheese. My family likes this dish very creamy and especially cheesy! Pop it under the broiler to brown the top cheese layer and dinner is ready in 30 minutes! Serve with a salad, plop yourself down with a good movie and everyone is happy.

One-Pan Spaghetti

Cheesy and easy. A great family meal to put together during those busy nights. Recipe by Laura Bashar of Family Spice

Ingredients:

1 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1 lb ground turkey

1 TBS basil, dried

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp salt

28 oz diced tomatoes, canned

2 cup water

8 oz spaghetti, broken into 1-inch pieces

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:

Preheat broiler to 500ºF and adjust rack to upper-middle position.

In an oven-safe large non-stick skillet, over medium-high heat add:

1 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup onion , chopped

1 lb ground turkey

Break up meat and as it cooks, season with:

1 TBS basil, dried

2 garlic cloves , crushed

1/2 tsp salt

Stir in:

28 oz diced tomatoes, canned

2 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

Stir in:

8 oz spaghetti , broken into 1-inch pieces

Stir often until spaghetti starts to soften, about 7 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium-low, cover skillet and simmer for another 7 minutes.

Turn off heat and stir in:

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese , grated

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded

Sprinkle top with:

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese , grated

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded

Place skillet in the broiler until the top browns, about 3 minutes.

Let spaghetti cool for 5 minutes and serve.

Notes:

Serving Suggestions: Great with ground sirloin or ground chicken, too. Mix it up with different kinds of pasta, too!

Cooking Tips: If your picky eater doesn't like tomato chunks, use your hand blender and puree your tomatoes until smooth. Then add to the pan. You can also substitute the canned tomatoes with 2 1/2 cups of marinara sauce.